Phone banking

Rebecca's post about the awesome wish list feature on IndieBound below is what I'd rather be thinking about now -- I spent a good portion of this morning blogging about it and other holiday independent bookstore shopping initiatives over at The Written Nerd.

This evening, though, I've been making phone calls to those wonderful folks who filled out a survey at our party, commented on our blog, or otherwise got in touch to let us know that they might be interested in investing in our bookstore. They've all received the cover letter in the post below, so I'm just calling to follow up on their expressed interest.

But it feels a lot like calling to ask people for money.

It also feels like the brief stint I did at the Obama campaign phone bank here in Brooklyn. We were working just before the election to make sure folks in battleground states had the information they needed to get to the polls. I was calling Florida voters to make sure that they know were their polling place was, that they had a ride, that they had a plan for voting. We'd been given lists of folks who had supposedly already expressed support for Obama, so we weren't trying to change any minds -- just providing information, and a reminder.

But that didn't mean it was easy calling strangers. And it didn't mean that we didn't get a range of responses -- from outrage at yet another campaign phone call, to indifference or apathy about voting, to lots and lots of answering machines. There was some profanity, on their part. There was some terror and guilt and frustration, on mine.


As with the phone banking, I don't know most of our potential investors personally. And I've already gotten a range of responses. I've gotten some wrong numbers. I've gotten some folks whose financial situation has changed, so they can't do what they thought they could. I've gotten some who don't seem to remember expressing interest, which is the most awkward of all. I've gotten some tough questions about our loan terms, and our plans overall.


As I checked out after my campaign phone banking shift, I told the campaign leader ruefully that I hadn't gotten a single "yes, I will be voting for Obama" call. But you left a lot of messages, she told me. And you provided the information that is going to help some people vote.

And then Obama won Florida.

I can't know whether my sixty-odd voicemails made any difference. But I like to think I was part of the rising tide.

The Fort Greene bookstore already has a handful of $1000 investors ready to sign their loan documents. And we've got a handful contemplating much larger amounts. And we've left a lot of voicemails. And there are a lot more phone numbers left to be called.

There are moments of terror and frustration, working on this kind of project. But oh, it's worth it, for those moments of satisfaction you can take to the bank.